Desperation time for Timbers

Scot Thompson cleared to return, with Montreal matches key to Portland's playoff hopes

By Jason Vondersmith

The Portland Tribune, Aug 12, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Desperation has set in for the Portland Timbers.

That’s a good thing, says coach Gavin Wilkinson, whose team showed some fight in last weekend’s 1-1 tie with Charleston.

The Timbers have the lowest-scoring team in the United Soccer Leagues First Division, but they dominated the third-place Battery at PGE Park.

“There was a lot more desperation, movement off the ball and more players determined to go at somebody,” Wilkinson says. “They had the confidence in their ability to cause problems for defenders.”

Still, the tie put the Timbers at 0-3-4 in their past seven USL games, and time is winding down on their move to make the seven-team playoffs.

At 5-8-10 (25 points), Portland sits in eighth place with seven games left.

The Timbers’ next match is 7 p.m. Saturday against Montreal at PGE Park.

Four of the remaining seven games are against teams below the Timbers in the standings: two with Montreal (22 points); Miami (24) and Carolina (21). The Timbers are two points below seventh-place Minnesota.

But the Timbers need to start scoring goals — they have only four during the seven-game USL winless streak.

“We need to pick up some wins, start picking up three points,” Wilkinson says. “It’s something we’re capable of doing, but we’re leaving it till the last minute.

“I predict 36 points will be enough to get somebody into the playoffs, and that’s still within our range.”

Montreal (6-9-4) “is the team with the biggest budget in the league, and they’re definitely underperforming, as we are,” Wilkinson says. “They have a lot of quality players, and they will cause a lot of problems. They outplayed us in Montreal (earlier), but we got a result in that game (a 1-0 win).”

Wilkinson heard some good news Tuesday from the USL office regarding the suspension of defender Scot Thompson – he'll be allowed to play Saturday against Montreal. The league had been looking at the severity of Thompson’s actions Thursday night against Seattle. He shoved a Sounder player, inciting arguments from other Timbers in the controversially officiated game.

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